The Japan Foundation Asia Center will be holding the “Media/Art Kitchen: Reality-Distortion Field” exhibitions in Yamaguchi and Aomori. These exhibitions are a progression and expansion of the “Media/Art Kitchen.” project which was conducted last year in 2013 in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, as one the events commemorating the “40th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation.”

From July to September in this year, the exhibition will be held at the Yamaguchi Center of Arts and Media [YCAM] and the Aomori Contemporary Art Centre [ACAC], Aomori Public University. While being based on the projects held in Southeast Asia, these exhibitions at YCAM and ACAC situate the issues anew within the Japanese context.

In addition to the exhibitions, live-concerts, workshops and symposiums are also organized to facilitate more comprehensive and enjoyable means of broadening our understanding.

These traveling exhibitions are a new project that the Asia Center, newly established in the Japan Foundation in April of this year, is organizing. The Asia Center sets as its goal the pursuit of dialogue and exchange, the sharing and cultivating of knowledge, and the constructing of new cultures through the experience of collaboration and cooperation. These projects are conducted as part of this main objective.

• Overview
• Background of the exhibition themes

Overview

Yamaguchi Center of Arts and Media [YCAM]
“MEDIA/ART KITCHEN-Reality Distortion Field-YAMAGUCHI
Open Call Laboratory: An Exploration into Social Anthropology in Asia”

outline

Dates	Saturday, July 5 – Sunday, September 28, 2014 10:00a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Closed:Tuesday (If Tuesday is a holiday, then Wednesday)
Venue	Yamaguchi Center of Arts and Media [YCAM]
Organized by	Yamaguchi City Foundation for Cultural Promotion, The Japan Foundation Asia Center
Supported by	Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi City Board of Education
In Association with	Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, Aomori Public University
Planned by	Kumiko Idaka (Curator, Yamaguchi Center of Arts and Media)
Participating Artists	HONF Foundation (Indonesia), Venzha Christ (Indonesia), Bani Haykal (Singapore), Operasi Cassava (Malaysia), YCAM Regional Research Lab (Japan), Yuichiro Tamura (Japan), FabLab Kitakagaya (Japan)
Homepage	http://www.ycam.jp/en/
Contact	Yamaguchi Center of Arts and Media [YCAM] 7-7 Nakazono-cho, Yamaguchi City, 753-0075 JAPAN Tel: +81-(0)83-901-2222 Fax: +81-(0)83-901-2216 Email: press＠ycam.jp (When sending an e-mail, please enter a half-width character "@" instead of a full-width character "＠.")

Aomori Contemporary Art Centre [ACAC]
“MEDIA/ART KITCHEN-Reality Distortion Field-AOMORI
Politics of Humor and Play”

outline

Dates	Saturday, July 26 – Monday, September 15, 2014 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Venue	Aomori Contemporary Art Centre [ACAC]
Organized by	Aomori Contemporary Art Centre [ACAC], Aomori Public University, The Japan Foundation Asia Center
In Association with	Yamaguchi Center of Arts and Media
Supported by	The Program to Create International Points for the Promotion of arts and Culture, The Agency of Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan (FY2014)
Planned by	Hiroyuki Hattori (Curator, Aomori Contemporary Art Centre)
Participating Artists	Ryota Kuwakubo (Japan), Kota Takeuchi (Japan), Yuichiro Tamura (Japan), Kenichi Hagihara (Japan), Kanta Horio (Japan), Yuko Mohri (Japan), Prilla Tania (Indonesia), Oomleo, (Indonesia), Fairuz Sulaiman (Malaysia), Renan Oritz (Philippines), Chulayarnnon Siriphol (Thailand), Bani Haykal (Singapore)
Homepage	http://www.acac-aomori.jp/?lang=en
Contact	Aomori Contemporary Art Centre [ACAC] 152-6 Yamazaki, Goshizawa, Aomori City 030-0134 JAPAN Tel: +81-(0)17-764-5200 Fax: +81-(0)17-764-5201 [For: Hiroyuki Hattori (Mr.)]

Background of the exhibition themes

The theme of the upcoming exhibition at YCAM will be on “Open Call Laboratory: an Exploration into Social Anthropology in Asia,” and will focus on the mechanisms of how “media” and “art” function with/against environments and resources specific to Yamaguchi prefecture. Opening up a “laboratory,” artists will work together with local communities to investigate the various roles.

At ACAC on the other hand, by taking advantage of its artists-in-residence program and the time during their residency, rising artists of both Southeast Asia and Japan are encouraged to create new innovative works. Through this, and from the sense of “humor” and “play” that resides in the everyday, captivating qualities of media-art will be explored, which furthermore will contribute to our awareness of the relationships between art works and the social contexts in which they are created. In the “Politics of Humor and Play” exhibition, these will be pursued to achieve a deeper understanding of “Southeast Asia” as a region.

Holding the exhibition in these two art centers also posits a new challenge for artists of Southeast Asia in their engagement with Japanese society and cultures: by encountering the “provinces” of Japan and the regional characteristics rather than the “city center,” and by cooperating with Japanese artists, curators and local communities, it encourages new perspectives for artists on how to internalize their various encounters for their artistic practices.